Pester and Rant
by Rabiscar
Summary: Lily ends up telling James everything albeit these heart to hearts are usually in the form of long angry tirades . What happens when there's something Lily can't tell him? She's a shook soda bottle ready to pop and he's on tenterhooks. R&R? ONE-SHOT


"Just tell me what's going on!"

"No Potter! I told you I don't want your help on this one," Lily said angrily as she wrenched her arm free from his hand.

"Why not, what's the matter?" he demanded, following closely behind her as she raced across the common room.

"Nothing! Leave me alone!" she shouted insistently and thundered up the staircase to the boys' dormitory.

James watched her climb the stairs and rolled his eyes, shaking his head in amusement. He tore up the stairs after her and threw open the door she had just slammed.

"I told you to leave me alone!" she shouted again.

"If you don't want me around, why did you retreat to _my _dormitory?"

Lily whipped her head back and forth before screwing up her face in frustration.

"ERGH! FORCE OF HABIT!" she bellowed while stomping her foot angrily.

"Right," he said calmly, catching her by the arm yet again as she tried to storm out of the room.

"Now tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing," she howled and tried to break free.

"Alright then," he shrugged, "if you're going to be like that," he trailed off as he scooped her off her feet and slung her over his shoulder.

"POTTER! PUT ME DOWN!" she demanded and beat his back with her tiny fists.

"Not until you tell me why you've gone bat-crazy these last few days."

Lily started writhing wildly, flailing her arms and legs causing him to drop her.

"Hmph!" she grunted as she hit the ground and scrambled to get to her feet. James grabbed at her leg but she wriggled out of her stocking and broke free, springing up to make a mad dash for the door. James dove across the room and tackled her, bringing her to the ground and pinning her down.

"Okay, truce! Truce!" Lily gasped, her voice muffled with her body face down against the floor. Breathing heavily, James fell forward onto his elbows and rested his head against her back.

"TRUCE OVER!" She yelped and rolled him off of her.

"Evans!?" he cried in shocked disbelief before leaping back on top of her, this time she was lying face up and staring up at him murderously.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked.

"Nothing," she huffed and took a few steadying breaths. "Quit badgering me, you're only making it worse."

"No way," he shook his head. "You're making things worse by keeping this a secret," he argued as he straightened up so that he was sitting firmly on top of her and eliminating any chance that she might escape.

"Here's how it is. When you have a problem, you act out causing me to scold you. Somewhere along the line, you realize you're being thick, tell me the problem, and I impart you with my wisdom," Lily said in a bored tone. "Now when _I_ have a problem, you push my buttons and provoke me until I lose all my patience and rant on and on."

"Exactly," James interjected, "so I'm doing my job, its time for you to rant!"

"No," Lily shook her head, "This time's different."

"And why's that?" James demanded.

"Because I can't rant _about_ you, _to_ you," she blurted out in frustration.

"Oh, so it _is_ about me," he said with interest.

"NO!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening. "MERLIN! Why do you always think everything's about you?" she back pedalled.

"Nice defence mechanism," he rolled his eyes. "Are you seriously going to sit there and pretend you didn't just say this was about me?"

"Um, I'm pretty sure I'm laying down, not sitting, if you do recall. Which, by the way, you should, because you are the one sitting on top of me."

"LILY!"

"Whoa! Easy there, Captain First Name Basis. Don't go all serious on me."

"Oh my gobstones," he muttered. "So we're back to this, huh?"

"Back to what? My back's to the floor, if you haven't noticed and I'd really appreciate it if you could let me up," she said in a snarky tone.

"Right back to the beginning then," he huffed in exasperation. "So now you're pretending to hate me again? Do you want me to pull your pigtails like first year too? Is that what we're doing now?"

"Pretending? Who's pretending? Maybe I do hate you, you don't know."

"Lily, you hang out with me in my dorm _every day_. Do you really expect me to believe that you hate me?" he asked in disbelief.

"No," she admitted dejectedly.

"Then tell me what's going on!" he demanded.

She opened her mouth to speak but looking up at him, her breath hitched in her throat.

"I'm scared," she said hoarsely.

He sighed and clamoured off of her, laying down on the floor with his hands behind his head.

She sat up, hugging her knees with one arm and pushing a hand through her long, red hair with the other.

"I'm sorry," she said as she turned her head over her shoulder to look down at him. "I'm just not ready to tell you yet."

"It's okay," he assured her quietly. By now he knew what this was really about. "Do you think you'll ever tell me?" he asked carefully with concern in his eyes.

"Yes," she nodded certainly. "Eventually. I'll get around to it."

"Okay," he exhaled in relief and closed his eyes for a fleeting moment. "I'll wait," he breathed when he had opened his eyes again.

"Really?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," he nodded and reached up to tug at her sleeve playfully.

She smiled and laid back down on the floor, turning onto her side to face him. She took in his lopsided grin, his glasses which were slightly askew, and his ruffled black hair before taking a long, steadying breath. She was as ready as she could be.

"Hey James? There's something I have to tell you. . ."


End file.
